LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - European shares retreated on
Tuesday, mirroring weaker commodity prices and losses in Asia
where stocks slipped after the Bank of Japan held policy steady
and presented a bleaker view of the country's economy.

Six weeks after the shift to negative rates, the BOJ dropped
references to taking rates down further and widened an exemption
to include $90 billion in short-term funds known as
money-reserve funds.

"The BOJ is running out of monetary policy firepower, so it
was not a surprise to see that there is no change to the policy
this week," said Lorne Baring, managing director at B Capital
Wealth Management.

"Also, China's industrial output figures at the weekend
showed contraction yet again and underscore the weakness in
demand from the world's second largest economy. There is still a
soft demand coupled with an excess supply story in the
commodities spectrum."

The STOXX Europe 600 Basic Resources index fell 4.4
percent, the top sectoral decliner, as copper prices dropped.
The European oil and gas index was also down 1.9 percent
as crude oil prices slipped.
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